River Road (River's End Series, #4) (3 page)

AJ stood there, his hat in his hands, which he always removed before Jack. Sign of respect. Jack was maybe in his late thirties, and not that much older than AJ’s own thirty years, but the position and stature Jack demanded and deserved was light years ahead of AJ.

“What’s up next?”

Jack leaned back, lacing his hands together behind his head, and his chair squeaked. “Get Caleb and Jordan on the sprinklers tomorrow; got some hot weather moving in, so let’s make sure the alfalfa gets plenty of water. Found some goat’s tail growing along the east pasture. Damn stuff will take over before you can blink. Can you get them out there scouring for it around the area?” AJ wasn’t sure of the actual name for the prickly weed that wasn’t native to the valley, but consistently popped up in their fields. Its prickles were long enough to cause serious problems. Any time they found one, they combed the area to pull out as many as they could find. They didn’t dare risk the chance of it spreading. “They’ll get it done.”

Jack’s lips pursed. “Only because you’ll be on their ass. Never understood how they could be Kailynn’s blood. But you keep them tolerable, at least. And Ian stays off my ass for that.” Kailynn was Ian’s girlfriend. The two brothers, Caleb and Jordan, were a bit lazy and unenterprising. However, they were good enough farm hands as long as AJ stayed glued to their asses.

“They’re good guys.”

“Yeah? Matter of opinion. But Erin said there’s a big group coming into the resort tomorrow. They reserved most of the stable horses for a long ride. Could you help her out with that tomorrow?”

AJ nodded. “’Course. If Erin needs it.” His heart dipped. He had no love for the paid horseback riding. The inexperienced riders didn’t handle the horses right or appreciate them if they did manage to ride them even marginally correct. But Erin, Jack’s wife, who ran the horseback riding for guests, was every bit as upstanding to AJ as Jack was.

“Thanks.” Jack cleared his throat. “Well, hell, all these damn women…” he grumbled. AJ crossed his arms over his chest. What was his next task? “Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for Erin and Allison, but damn! You won’t believe the latest thing they got together and decided.”

He bit his lip, trying to imagine little, five-foot-nothing Erin ordering Jack about. She might have been the only one who could get away with it. “What?”

“They wanted to hire a landscape artist. Here. For this place. Can you even imagine? What the hell? I know what they are. But designing how and where we grow stuff? Here? I’m confused; it’s as if they didn’t realize we’re a goddamned working ranch. And we
grow
stuff. Important stuff.
Food.
” The reproach was thick in his tone. “I couldn’t even argue. Then Shane, the wimpy little jerk, agreed it wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

“Uh, what is it? The artist, I mean? Do they plant stuff?”

“Oh, first, they design it, which costs a fortune too. Anyway, I told them no. We can buy our plants at the local nursery and I can dig a hole as well as the next guy. So…”

AJ sighed. “So that means I’m now a landscaper?”

“Well, no.
We
are. You and I. I wouldn’t just punish you without taking some of it myself. But yeah. They want to landscape all around the main house, our houses, and all the cabin areas as well as where the guests might walk.” Jack sneered when he muttered
guests
in lip-curling disgust. AJ dropped his head, pressing his lips together to keep his own smirk from showing. Jack was as much a fan as AJ in his “affection” toward the resort people.

“You know, if not for my brothers, and their right to have wives and kids so our kids will have something to do with this place, I’d never have built a goddamned hotel here. It’s like they come here to pat us on the head, and say how cute we are with our little horse farm out here in middle of nowhere. If it were just my decision, it would have forever remained the Rydell River
Ranch
.”

AJ nodded, a little squeeze tugging near his heart. But Jack wasn’t alone. Jack had three brothers, two sons, a wife, and now a sister-in-law and another one probably someday. He had plenty of responsibilities, as well as people whom he owed to take into consideration. AJ couldn’t fathom it. There was no one in his life. His dad, sure, until he was sixteen, but that barely came to a combined total of three or four months out of the entire year when AJ was actually with him. “But it’s not just you, and therefore we need to start landscaping the place.”

“Indeed we do.” Jack stood up. “Walk with me, I’ll show you what they have in mind. All the ranch or orchard work comes first, of course. Start this whenever you have some free time. If you choose to work at it on your own time, you can, just be sure to keep your hours and charge me.”

He followed Jack, and they started out of the barn. They always saw eye to eye. Both slipped their hats on as the sun grew brighter to the left of them. “You know, I’m not an artist when it comes to plants. You’ll have to tell me what you want and where.”

“Like I know one bush from another,” Jack mumbled. 

“Well, I sure don’t.”

They started towards the main ranch house. It was nothing less than magnificent to AJ. Rising from a small mound, lush grass fell down all around it. A porch surrounded the two-story log home that had a central river-rock chimney and other accents of river rock all around the base of it. It once housed all the Rydells, but recently, Jack and Erin built their own house further down the river. Ian’s house was nearby also. Shane moved with his wife, Allison, into a house near the orchards, overlooking the rest of the ranch. The youngest son, Joey, only lived in the main house whenever he came home on leave from the Army. Right now, and for the first time ever, the house was unoccupied. AJ heard Jack mumbling in the last month or so, about his brothers turning it into some kind of restaurant or gift shop for the guests. They had yet to convince Jack to do that, however.

Jack stopped and stared at it, squinting against the light. AJ wondered if Jack missed living in the house he was raised in, as well as his own two sons. “It’s apparently not fancy enough with just the grass. They concurred it needed more flowerbeds running the length of the porch and an island right here in middle of the lawn. Then they want me to pave the driveway and parking area, just to keep the dust down. Like a little dust ever hurt anyone. All these fancy-ass sedans and SUVs don’t appreciate their gleaming exteriors having a little real earth on them. Anyway, from here, we’ll put the same flowerbeds… which are actually bushes with bark or gravel around them… the
landscaping,
I’m told, over here.” He kept walking around the ranch and pointing out where the next beautifications were to occupy. Eventually, they were standing before the ten mini-log cabins that hugged the river’s edge. Like tiny clones of the main ranch house, they had small, covered porches on the front, and viewing decks off the back. The views were of the river that ran down the ravine from the cabins.

“And right off, Erin wants flowers outside along all the cabins. So the grass will need to be removed in front, the soil tilled and… the flowers freaking planted.” Jack nearly shivered at the word “flowers,” as if Erin were asking him to pole dance in front of a crowd. “All the flats of flowers are under the lean-to near Shane’s shop. You can’t miss them.”

“I’ll get started tomorrow.”
Flower gardening.
AJ cringed at the idea. He agreed with Jack. Having all grass made it easy. They had an industrial-sized mower deck that regularly tagged along behind any number of their tractors, and a smaller, riding mower to use around the buildings. It still cost plenty in gas, maintenance, time, and manpower just to keep the grass mown. Now all these new landscaping needs? They turned to leave. “Hey, there was a guest, a tall lady who pulled into the ranch house today. She had all these questions about the resort, which I’m not real familiar with, so I might have steered her wrong. I’m sorry if I mighta scared her off.”

Jack shrugged. “No. Erin mentioned a single lady checked in. No worries.” They walked off towards the barns and turned to separate. Jack added, “Thanks, AJ. You’re a lifesaver, both for what you do around here, and because I can trust you. You always mention every little thing you think could be of significance. That means a lot to me.”

He nodded. “Just doing my job.”

Jack nodded. “And doing it well.”

AJ went towards his trailer, which Jack had recently upgraded. He lived for a few years in a small trailer from the nineteen-sixties. With a brown and orange interior, it was terribly gaudy to the eyes, and only a shelter. Jack—well, actually, Erin—gave him permission to stay in her trailer as of a few months ago. It was far nicer, with its own bedroom and the color scheme was from the early nineteen-nineties, a pleasing mauve. Erin kept it spick and span for she still loved the place where she first lived on the ranch. Allowing AJ to live in it was as big a compliment from Erin as AJ could imagine any of the Rydells bestowing on him. It had a private deck, and the whole trailer was covered so he could live there in the winter without the snow pack collapsing its roof. Whereas the other trailers for the ranch hands were regularly stowed in one of the giant outbuildings when the employees were laid off for the winter, AJ stayed on and helped Jack year round. Year round, stable work. Literally. It made his heart swell as he tried to believe it. For the first time, he had a stable job and the same address
all year
. It was profound. Something he had dreamed of, but never pictured actually accomplishing.
River Road
. His address. He even received mail here. That was another first for him. Before, he’d always kept a post office box, since he moved around so much with his work. Most winters, he found temporary employment doing any odd jobs he could scrounge. To have stable, steady work now was a relief and unlike anything he’d ever known before.

AJ entered the trailer as the sun began to set over the mountains across the river. It blackened the valley and trailed orange in the water. Tossing his hat to the side, he stripped his shirt off to head to the shower and wash off the day’s dust, sweat, grime and dirt. Later, as he sat on the small deck
, his deck
for now, he ate a sandwich and drank a glass of milk as he marveled at the perfect day. He just didn’t see how life could get any better than a day like today. A full day of work, a place to stay, and all alone. No bunkhouse or roommate. His own space, entirely. And a view like that which now encircled him. The chirping of crickets and nightly silence. A few lights shone across the river as the residents of River’s End, the small town across the river, one-by-one began to light up their houses. Families living in unending peace and quiet.

Although he had no family, he finally had the respect of one. AJ also got to have acres and acres of land around him, along with the sporadic smell of horses in his nostrils and the happy prospect of doing all of it again tomorrow. He was respected and relied upon. That trust, which he received from all the Rydells, was something he cherished. His name and his reputation were all he had in the world. He wasn’t a smart man, or a worldly man, or a man with any type of family or connections. All he had was his integrity. After growing up with a man who had none, and living for years without any, himself, it became his sole goal in life now. Prison showed him how not to live and he didn’t want to spend another day confined. That was another AJ Reed who landed himself there. He bummed around for a few years after his release. Most people didn’t want to give him a chance once they realized he was an ex-convict. A big guy, with huge muscles, he involuntarily intimidated more than a few. Along with his criminal history, AJ understood why most were wary of him, and nervous to give him any chance or a break.

But Jack Rydell did. For no real reason. He didn’t have to. AJ certainly didn’t deserve it. But Jack took a chance on him, and AJ would never forget that. As far as AJ was concerned, the Rydell family had his permanent loyalty and he had their backs until the day he died, or they didn’t want him there anymore. Whichever came first.

Yes, integrity was all AJ had. The words Jack said left a smile on AJ’s mouth as he tilted his head back to gander at the emerging stars above. Yup, he just couldn’t foresee his life ever being this good, nor could he see it ever getting any better than this.

It scared him to think that way. He shied away from those thoughts. The hope. The belief. He never had stability or respect before. So to have both, now, at the same time? It was like winning the lottery to AJ. And he’d never do anything to tarnish either or change it one iota.

KATE STRETCHED OUT AND yawned. Finally, she managed to find one decent thing about the place: it had nice beds but the dinky cabins were entirely too small. She walked through the front door directly into the living room consisting of only a couch, a flat screen TV on the wall, and a small chair with an ottoman. The four-seat table was almost directly behind the couch, with just enough space to walk into the kitchen area. Small too. A sink, prep area, fridge, stove, and microwave. The bathroom was beyond that. Up the stairs was a loft with a large bedroom. Kids were supposed to sleep on the fold-out couch below. Lacking any walls, it was all open, so in Kate’s estimation, any family would have to adore each other to tolerate such accommodations.

She checked in for two weeks. Throwing caution to the wind, she used her credit card, called work, and ordered them to send someone with the files she specified. Then she immediately set up the kitchen table as her temporary office.

Rising from the bed, she hastily flipped the covers back and put her slippers on when she saw how late it was, judging by the sun’s position. The worse part was, she’d yet to meet any Rydells. A young girl named Jocelyn greeted her at the check-in desk and gave her the key to her room. She was proficient and emotionless. With spiked blonde hair, tinged in white ends, she had tattoos trailing her wrists that partially covered her arms. The girl also had an uncomfortable-looking piercing through her tongue and two more on her lower lip. But she was in killer shape. Rivaling any man, she had a kick-their-asses kind of figure. Defined arms, hard with muscles, rippled through her white muscle tee, which she wore over a dark tank top. With a tight, athletic body, and a funky outfit, she topped it off with red cowboy boots. Kate almost asked how she managed to get such a rockin’ body, but the girl was all business. Polite. A cool customer.

“Any of these mythical Rydells actually around here? Or is that just some kind of figure-head name for the resort? Maybe none of them really live here.”

The girl’s tongue played with her lip rings and she shrugged. “Nah, they’re the real deal. Erin runs the horseback rides and Jack and his brother work the ranch. Horses don’t feed themselves, you know. It’s not just a fun tourist distraction. It’s the real deal.”

Kate felt insulted, as if tourists, like her, or any other guest of the Rydells, were somehow careless or oblivious that people were actually working there while the rest of them vacationed. The annoying clicking of the girl’s tongue ring against her teeth as she raised her eyebrows almost in challenge soon had Kate gnashing her teeth. She could not abide rude, snotty youth who thought they were somehow superior to her. As if they had done anything in this world except mooch off their parents. But Erin? She must have been a Rydell.

“Can I go on one of the horseback rides?”

“Sure.” Click. “Just gotta book it and pay up front.”

Kate eagerly paid for the ten o’clock ride that morning. Then, she scoured through her suitcase and sighed. She had nothing to wear that was suitable for the back of a horse. Her jeans cost more than the rental fee of her room, and her spiky ankle boots had three-inch, sharp heels. She pulled the jeans on, eventually settling on a tank top she brought to sleep in. She packed her clothes with the intention of meeting her brother, not to take a vacation on a freaking dude ranch like a city slicker.

She had eaten no food and saw no café or restaurant. Stupid. For goodness sake, what was she supposed to eat? But first, there was the ride. Squaring her shoulders; she decided she could handle it. They at least provided the complimentary coffee grounds and coffee maker.

While making the coffee and dreading facing a horse ride, she tried to gear up to face it. She thought about the predatory assholes at work who assumed because she had big tits, albeit fake, but still
her
tits, she had no brains. And because she chose to dress in a revealing fashion, she wanted to be harassed. They soon learned she was just the opposite of that. She gave out enough attitude and tongue lashings to stop any nonsense. So she figured she could probably handle a domesticated horse. Convoluted argument to convince her to not be afraid to ride a horse, but it worked.

Reconnaissance
. She was just scoping out the lay of the land, getting a feel for the enemy. She had to remind herself she was strategizing. It was worth the risk of potentially ruining her boots and pricey jeans. However, the boots would be a damn shame. She glanced down; they were cute as hell even on her size ten feet. She slammed her cup down and started out the door, walking up the graveled pathway that conveniently led towards a large, covered horse arena. Wobbling, she cursed the damn prickly bits of gravel on which her narrow, spiked heels couldn’t get any traction. She was liable to twist her ankle. Had these people never heard of such earthy inventions as concrete? Pavement? Asphalt? You know, civilization?

Inside the arena, she saw a dozen horses, all saddled, standing hitched to the long wall, their tails intermittently swiping their butts and hindquarters. Some stomped and blew out air noisily. She started over towards them when something caught her eye. Stopping, she carefully walked closer to the wall that separated her from the arena. It was a boarded wall that looked scarred and scraped on the inside. From what? Years of horse hooves kicking it? She shivered, picturing the damage the massive animals might inflict.
Not like dogs, and that was for sure,
she thought with a tingle of apprehension. Throwing her shoulders back, she straightened her neck. Since when did she get scared? Jangled nerves were for sissies. It was simply a useless emotion.

She kept thinking about the man from yesterday. DJ? JR? No, that wasn’t it. Some initials. Anyway, the Rydells’ ranch foreman. He carried a saddle in his hands, lugging the equipment as if it weighed as much as her purse. Approaching a horse, he deftly planted the saddle on the horse’s back with a speed that was impressive. Making quick work of cinching it around the horse’s belly, Kate had no idea what particular skill he was demonstrating, but he did it with the speed of a pro.

He paused and grabbed the lead rope and halter on the horse’s head before leaning closer, and swiping his mouth along the horse’s neck. Kate’s eyebrows rose and she drew closer to the arena. Did that big, burly, muscled man just kiss the horse? And was he now talking to it? Yes! Of that she was certain. His lips moved. Lifting his big, flat, wide hand, he patted the horse’s neck, sliding his fingers along its mane. Was he comforting it? She quickly ducked below the level of the wall where he could see her and crept in closer.

“…clueless city jerks. They can’t help it if they pull the reins too hard, or confuse you with their lack of instructions. We have to forgive their ignorance. I’ll get you a special treat later for your ordeal, ‘kay?”

Kate was close enough to catch the end of the conversation. She forgot to be stealthy in her shock at seeing a grown man kissing and soothing a horse. Right out in the open. And not some wimpy, well-groomed, little bespectacled office worker, but a rough-and-tumble, sweaty, dirty (but in a good way) cowboy. He wore a shirt today, and it clung to the wet parts of his back from sweat. Dust covered his bare arms and his jeans hugged his ass. She followed his lean legs down to his boots. She was sure they were the same pair he wore yesterday. They had a hole in the right knee, on the left thigh, and on the right butt cheek.

“Do you think all city people are jerks? Or just the ones paying to stay here?”

The cowboy’s back jerked upright, and he spun around. His reflexes were quick and impressive. His hat was again pulled down low as he scanned the line of the wall until his eyes landed on her, mid chest. She leaned forward, resting her elbows and forearms on the fence. “Sorry?” he asked when his gaze met hers.

“The conversation you were having with the horse? I was wondering if you considered all of us ignorant jerks, or are there some tolerable ones?”

He flushed and his cheeks went ruddy with color. Dropping his head, he pointed the toe of one of his boots and drew a little circle in the sand of the arena. “No, ma’am. Sorry. I was just… this one here, well, she gets a little nervous with all the new people and crowds. I was just… trying to soothe her, and calm her down a bit.”

Comforting her? The horse? Kate bit her bottom lip to repress the grin. The man… AJ! Yes, it was
AJ.
He was a bit unusual and not what she expected from a brute of a man like him. He was blushing because she caught him sweetly comforting the horse. She might have even kind of liked that in him; but again with the
ma’am
shit? She didn’t like that one bit.

She waved at the horse. “Then why put us ignorant jerks on her back?”

He glanced up. “Um. It’s Mrs. Rydell’s call as to which guests we take. There are thirteen today… um guests, today, so we used some horses we don’t take out as often, a few like this.”

“We?”

“Yeah.” His gaze skittered all around again. She riveted hers on his face, his chest, and finally, his crotch. That was because his worn jeans cupped him so enticingly, it was impossible not to give him at least a warm, loving glance of appreciation. Not that the shy cowboy noticed it. All of her flirting was wasted thus far. She sighed and walked around the corner of the arena. One side was lowered, where the horses were tethered to a long bar that ran the length of the wall.

She leaned against the wood column supporting the roof. “So let’s not put me on the back of the one who gets nervous and doesn’t like crowds. Turns out I’m one of the clueless, ignorant city gals.”

Pursing his lips, he glanced at her and then away, as if he couldn’t stand to allow his eyes to remain on her. As if he were incapable of it. “I, uh, didn’t mean that. I was just… I mean, I don’t pay much mind to what I’m saying when—”

“Talking to a horse?” She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling.

“I don’t really think that about the guests or anything. You guys are important to us. The Rydells, I mean. I’m not one of them, but I just try to—”

AJ’s eyebrows wiggled downward. Lord! It struck her then. He was worried she might tell on him. Only it wasn’t any small concern to him. His facial expression looked stricken, and his face seemed a degree paler. After a giant breath, he visibly sought a new train of thought.

“Hey, cowboy, I was just kidding around with you. I don’t care what you talk to the horses about. No harm, no foul.” She smiled softly. “Your opinion of city people is safe with me.”

His head nodded. “Thanks, ma’am. I appreciate that. But it’s really not my opinion…”

“It’s the horse’s?”

His face jerked up. Finally, after a long, drawn-out moment, a slow, small smile appeared on the man’s lips. “Yes, ma’am, how the horse feels.”

She uncrossed her foot from the other and stood straight up. In the distance, she could see a crowd coming towards her. “Can’t blame her. When I have a job to do, I like to surround myself with only the best available. Experts. Not novices.”

“That’s about it.”

“Looks like the rest of them are coming.”

“You’re with them?”

“No. Not me. I’m all alone.”

He cleared his throat, moving his hand to his neck and rubbing it. “Well, it seems that you’re the one I was waiting on. Erin’s taking the larger crowd and I’m taking… you. You’re the one who paid for an introductory horse ride and lesson, right?”

With Erin Rydell
. Kate ground her back teeth and pursed her lips as she dropped her face to hide her disdain. God damn it. She wanted to just meet a freaking
Rydell
. But what could she say? Sorry, cowboy, but only the girl will do? “Yup, that’s me. I thought you said you were the foreman.”

“I’m whatever they need me to be.”

She almost bit her tongue to keep the flirty retort inside her mouth. He said it with a completely serious and blank face. “Meaning?”

“I help out wherever I’m needed. Mrs. Rydell had a big party coming today, so I helped her saddle up the horses. This is a lot for one time, you know, all at once. Then, you signed up for a ride, so first thing, they hit me up to take you.”

“So I’m taking you from your real work? Is that what I’m kind of picking up on here?”

“Nope. I’m here to do whatever needs doing. Today, that happens to be you.”

Dear God? How could she not smirk? Laugh? Say it back? Say what was on the tip of her tongue? He was flirting and his sexual overtones were about as subtle as bullhorns, yet she was pretty sure he didn’t even realize it.

“AJ? Ready?” A woman’s voice called from across the open arena. AJ turned towards the door leading into another closed building.
Probably a barn or store room
, Kate supposed.

“Yup. You’re good,” he called across the way. “Let ‘em in whenever you’re ready.”

Kate straightened and stared at a small girl with long, dark hair; a blur of flannel shirt, jeans, and a black cowboy hat. That’s all she managed to glimpse of her
sister-in-law
. 

He glanced back at her. “We’ll get the crowd all mounted before I can properly get you started. Do you mind waiting? I don’t think Jocelyn realized she booked the group and you at the same time.”

“No. It’s not a problem. I’ll watch. This city girl could use a bit of an education. Never been to a place like this.”